Egyptian lawyers ‘escalate protests’ over e-tax system

Egyptian lawyers have reportedly escalated their rare protests in the capital Cairo and elsewhere nationwide over requirements for a new electronic system to collect taxes.

In a live-streamed video on Facebook on Monday, prominent pro-Islamist laywer Montasser al-Zayyat showed dozens of lawyers gathered at the Bar Association’s main building in central Cairo chanting slogans against the new system.

The chants mainly reiterated the lawyers’ rejection of registering in the new electronic system for collecting taxes as per instructions by the finance ministry.

The Egyptian Tax Authority published a statement on 27 November requesting all investors – including lawyers, artists and doctors – who handle direct business transactions with consumers register for an electronic invoice system before 15 December.

The electronic tax system is part of government efforts to digitise financial transactions and end unregulated economic markets.

Lawyer Tarek El-Awady said in a Facebook post on Monday that “Egyptian lawyers were making history in defence of their legitimate rights as they staged the biggest peaceful protest in Egypt over the past nine years”.

The privately owned, pro-government Cairo24 website said that the lawyers had demonstrated to reiterate their right to be exempt from paying the electronic tax.

The London-based Al-Quds al-Araby website reported that the lawyers had “escalated their protests” to reject the electronic tax system through staging rallies in various governorates, including Alexandria, Kafr el-Sheikh, Beni Suef, Fayyoum, Menoufiya and Sohag.

The report said that the protesters’ chants criticised the economic policies adopted by Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, especially recently agreed loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

On 27 November, several media outlets reported protests by lawyers in Cairo and the northern Dakahlia governorate over the new system.

BBC Africa